Our beloved silklie rooster died yesterday

[Jarsheart]

Out of paranoia, and not wanting any more chicken funerals, I took both of my droopy hens to the vet. I am going broke. Anyway, neither hen is anemic !! Which makes sense since we powered for mites Sept 14th. The mites are gone, and the blood counts are going up. My healthy chickens are looking much brighter and healthier. The weather has been mild instead of scortching hot, and that helps too. And yes, I have powered again. As for my droopy hens-one has an infection, the other seems to have bobble head (they are silkies, and are at the bottom of the pecking order so they both get bopped in the head). I have both inside, makes it easier to treat them and keep an eye on them. My guest bedroom has become a chicken hospital. I have had the summer from hell concerning my flock. Glad to have this forum for support-for sharing, learning, venting and crying. Millions of thanks to you all. My flock and I appreciate it. Praying for good health to everyone AND thieir flocks. I will keep updating. I hope to post good news so that ALL of us can smile.

Michelle

 

[ellpow]

Hi everyone

Just joined your forum: was looking for answers on why our dominant roosters are dying.

When our first rooster died, practically overnight, I was absolutely devastated: he was a magnificent Bard Rock rooster.
Then same thing happened to the next dominant rooster about 8 months later.
Next dominant rooster had the same result.
Same for the one after him after a similar period. That was three months ago.
And now the one after that: the dominant rooster was sitting in one of the nesting boxes yesterday, with his head hung low, and I am fully expecting to find him dead in the next day or two.

That's 5 dominant roosters, not a single other bird has died or been sick, apart from some mites/scaling on the feet of one hen which has been successfully treated.

Hence we were looking through the internet to see if anyone else has had this problem. There are several forums with similar postings, but the suggested diseases or pests are not applicable to us: no snakes, no predators, no discolored droppings, no discharges, no symptoms on any of the other cockerels, and importantly, no other birds affected.

You posted that the necropsy showed your rooster was healthy. So we are still baffled.

ellpow


Some background notes:
First rooster: We had 8 hens and him, all free to roam. They were obtained from two different local sources. The chickens tend to stay near the chicken house mainly, but basically are free to wander on a huge section. Apart from farmers spreading fertilizer on surrounding dairy farms (sometime by tractor, sometimes by planes) about a mile away, there are no sprays or other chemicals being administered nearby (New Zealand).

Second rooster: we had many offspring from first rooster, and one of them grew to be a large rooster, chasing the other roosters away, and generally looking after his hens well. At this stage we had about 16 chickens. He was found dead in the coop one morning.

Third rooster: one of the chicks from the original rooster we gave away turned out to be a young rooster, which was not what the owners wanted, so we went and got him back. He grew to be another beautiful bird. Our chicken population was held between 15 and 22. The rooster was observed sitting in a nesting box during the day over about 3 days, but did wander around during parts of the day, and then found dead in the coop one morning.

Fourth rooster: found dead one morning, 3 months ago. Chicken population at this time: 8 hens (18 months), 3 young cockerels from last season, 3 hens from the last season, 2 roosters (18 months, one of which is the dominant rooster).

Fifth rooster: this is the other one of the roosters in the sentence above. He is spending some parts of the day sitting on a nesting box with his head hung low at the moment.